Fed Move Has No Negative Impact on Mortgage Rates:  Borrowing costs have fallen a full percentage point since November, enabling millions more potential buyers to reenter the market. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is nearly a full percentage point lower than its 7.08% peak in mid-November, helping affordability and offering millions of potential home buyers to reenter the housing market. Even as the Federal Reserve voted last week to raise its benchmark rate by another quarter of a point, mortgage rates continued to inch downward. The mortgage market likely already priced in the latest Fed rate, says Nadia Evangelou, senior economist at the National Association of REALTORS®. The 1% point reduction in rates since November will enable up to 3 million more mortgage-ready consumers to afford a $400,000 loan, the median home price.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejects recession fears, says economy is ‘strong’:  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected recession fears in a recent interview, saying the economy remains “strong and resilient.” A blockbuster jobs report last week showed that the economy added 517,000 jobs in January, dropping the unemployment rate to a near-historic low. “You don’t have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years,” Yellen said. Although concern about price hikes are top of mind of most Americans. Consumer prices rose 6.5% over the yearlong period ending in December, which amounts to a significant slowdown from a summer peak but remains more than triple the Fed’s target of 2%.

Home Prices Have Surged 42% in the Last 3 Years:  The National Association of REALTORS®’ latest quarterly housing report shows that home price growth is cooling—though that doesn’t mean prices are falling. The national median price for a single-family existing home rose 4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching $378,700. That’s a much slower pace than the 8.6% increase in the previous quarter. “A slowdown in home prices is underway and welcomed, particularly as the typical home price has risen 42% in the past three years,” says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Still, “even with a projected reduction in home sales this year, prices are expected to remain stable due to extremely limited supply. 

Young Adults Living With Parents Are Ready to Purchase:  New data suggests that more people ages 25 to 34 have saved enough while staying with family to move out on their own. In 2022, 15.6% of adults ages 25 to 34 lived at home with their family, according to NAR analysis of Census Bureau data. The percentage historically tends to be less than 10%. In recent years, high rents and the flexibility of remote work have prompted many young adults to move back home which may have allowed them a financial boost, translating into savings, debt reduction and improving their credit

Growth of the ‘Rentvestor’:  Younger generations are showing a desire to buy investment properties before or instead of a primary residence. Young people are discovering that  an investment property gives them the best of both worlds: They can live wherever they want, including cities where they can’t yet afford to buy, and still become property owners, which, is still considered an important part of their American dream.